41

Ronnie tagged along behind his father and Mr. Caldwell as they walked slowly from the barn and then stopped alongside Mr. Caldwell’s car for a few final words. Then Mr. Caldwell climbed into his station wagon and started the engine. Ronnie waved good-by.

“Dad,” he asked, following his father back to the barn, “what did he want?”

“Supposing you come up in the loft with me and help pile up the hay you knocked down the other day. Then I’ll be able to get the rest of it in after it’s finished drying on the fields. I’ll tell you about Mr. Caldwell while we work.”

Ronnie followed his father up the ladder. It was stifling hot in the loft. Mr. Rorth opened the two loft doors that faced onto the barnyard. Overhead a wasp darted angrily among the beams, droning like a model airplane.

Mr. Rorth picked up two pitchforks and handed one of them to Ronnie. “How come you’re so interested in this Mr. Caldwell?” he asked, starting to move some of the hay toward the rear of the loft.

Ronnie grinned. “I guess maybe because I’m just plain nosey!” he answered.

Mr. Rorth had gathered up a large pile of hay. Now he jabbed the tines of his fork underneath it and heaved the load to the top of the stack. Then he turned to face the boy. “Couldn’t ask for a more honest answer than the one you gave me, could I?” he queried. “I’ll say this, though, about the man,” he went on, more seriously, “I’ll say that I was impressed by the way he talked. He seemed genuinely interested in antiques, particularly glassware. And apparently42 he’s built up quite a name for himself as a connoisseur of old glass.”

42

Ronnie thought about what his father had just told him. “Dad, what’s a connoisseur?”

“A connoisseur? Well, he’s a person who knows a great deal about some special art subject. Caldwell got interested in glassware when he was a boy. It seems his family had a couple of pieces of Rorth glassware that had been handed down from one generation to the next. He started doing some research on them, and pretty soon he was studying up on all makes of glassware. Now he’s writing a book on early American glassware. He wants to include a few chapters about Rorth glass.”

Ronnie stopped work long enough to turn toward his father. “And is that why Caldwell came to see you?” 

 Prev. P 28/99 next